Q2 update and Q3 list...

I can't believe it's time again to be doing the finish-a-long list, but here goes...

• My list for Q2 including what progress I've made:
  
• A postage stamp style quilt using 4.5” squares- waiting to be quilted.
• A hst quilt- a bit of sewing but not much progress.
• A wonderland fabric quilt- no progress.
• A half square triangle cushion- finished!
• My unicorn retreat pouch, been cut ready to sew for a couple of years, just finished!!
• A pin badge banner- done and gifted for my sisters birthday.
• A tote bag- finished and I love it
• Scrappy pouch- kind of done. Instead I made 2 non scrappy.
• Hopefully another quilt- turns out it was the only quilt to be finished within my 3 months, see it here!
• Millie’s cool mat cover- done.
• A bag for my nanas birthday for her knitting- done and she loves it!
• A pouch for Father’s Day- just bought a gift will make for christmas instead.
• My #snappyzippouch for my phone, because it’s all ready to sew and even been floating on my desk for a month... still not done.
• My liberty cord and cork pouch, part way through sewing and it’s a shame to leave it much longer... still not done.
• A basket for my basket- done and all pins attached, I love it!

I also hosted a sew along for my latest sewing pattern, which is an embroidery pattern. I  made a banner, with stitching videos and a couple of wood burning pieces.

My full finish-a-long list (still excluding some quilts or the list would be too long):

• unicorn retreat pouch (slight cheat since I finished it now but its not in time for Q2!)
• postage stamp style cotton and steel quilt
• HST cotton and steel quilt
• snappy zip pouch for mobile
• liberty cord and cork pouch/bag
• pouch for dad
• 2 doll house fabric quilts
• makers mat
• xmas cushion
• halloween cushion
• polar bear cushion
• christmas cross stitch
• dashwood advent pouches
• christmas bunting
• floral car quilt
• dog fabric car quilt
• sugar plum/Trixie quilt
• pixie noel quilt
• tasha noel skirt
• adele dress
• my meadowland cushion
• liberty hst quilt
• memory cushions for a friend

I have organized a merrylilchristmas swap, so I have my gifts to make and buy for that.

Also I will be releasing a new Halloween inspired embroidery pattern and hosting a sew along in October! 

So, for this Q3 I will concentrate on the two cotton and steel quilts and the 2 doll house quilts. I'll also do the memory cushions, liberty pouch/bag, makers mat and Halloween projects. Hopefully the swap parcel will get started and anything else little I can do in between my quilts!

You can follow my finish a long progress on instagram following the #craftylilmousefal2020

Mx

My #100daysusingcottonandsteel project finished!

Let’s face it my #100dayproject2020 did not go entirely to plan. There's some projects on my list I intended to do and didn't, some I actually finished and a few I started, but are still in progress. So here's a run down of the projects I made...

The postage style quilt- I was super pleased to get it slightly bigger than I expected at 84 inches square. This was 441 4” squares in the end! I chose a quilting design that needs custom quilting by a long armer and there was quite a wait list, so it will be a while before I get it back to bind and finish. We will all just have to wait a while for those photos, but here is the finished top before the quilting!

The scrappy triangle cushion- this was finished early in the project. I pieced and then hand quilted it. I am super happy with how it looks and it's now in full use in the lounge. Tutorial blog for that is here!

Patchwork tote- well this was worked on a little in the middle of the 100 days but left until the last push to actually finish. I went with using only melody miller designed fabrics in the end and love the way it turned out.

Pin badge banner- made for my sisters birthday. I have been wanting to make one for ages, so I’m pleased I have made one now. I added a rainbow panel to the top for some fun colour. I also made her a key ring with the perfect selvage too!

A rainbow jelly roll quilt- so technically I didn’t use a jelly roll at all, which would have made it so much easier. Anyways, I am so happy with my new quilt. You can see and read more about it here including where to get the free pattern to make your own!

Selvedge cushions- I always wanted to use the fun selvedges from my stash but I wasn’t sure what for exactly. I took inspiration from a quilt a lady was making on instagram. I didn’t have any where near enough for a quilt, so I made a pair of cushions instead. They look so fun with my quilts and other cushion in the lounge.

I made 2 pouches- one to join in with a sew along, (although I didn’t like the original size so changed everything.) I made another where I supersized the idea to be a pencil case, again using all my own measurements and a different construction method to make it work.

A fabric bookmark using a few scraps, which I was going to give away but ended up keeping in the end... I did gift something else instead !!

I also made a few smaller projects: a #weeboxybasket (pattern by sweet cinnamon roses), 2 key rings using selvedges, which feature the fun text and prints to make them extra special for myself and mum and a simple hair ribbon, made using lawn fabric for extra softness.

It wasn't just me using my cotton and steel stash in the 100 days... My mum used my mini travel pinnie pattern (available in my Etsy store here) to make a gift for my sister.

My sister is also in the middle of using my stash to make herself a quilt too! I didn’t take photos to share but I finished cutting out my entire ice cream soda Epp quilt. I also cut out and have started a triangle quilt, more will be shared for that soon, hopefully. I also used some stash doing a giveaway of 70 precut hexies. 

So overall during the project I might not have finished everything but I feel like I got a lot made so I’m happy with that. I did however end up purchasing a few bits, mainly large cuts for backings and a few basics. This definitely wasn’t helpful in reducing my stash. In fact even though I have made so many things, including cutting out 5 quilts, I still don’t look to have used much!

I learnt I actually like doing my other hobbies still and miss them if I give something else too much attention. I also feel a little lost now my challenge is over and my focus has been removed.

I think going forward I need to set smaller goals to get the sense of achievement, but definitely make time for other activities I enjoy too. 

Mx

scrappy triangle cushion

I made this cushion using my cotton + steel fabrics as part of my #100dayproject on Instagram. I grouped the fabrics into colour families and pieced half square triangles around a central economy block to create the design. The cushion finishes up at 18". If you would like to make your own, here's how to do it …

To create the patchwork, you will need to cut: 

1 blue square @ 4 3/4"

4 yellow triangles

8 navy triangles

20 cream triangles

20 pink triangles

12 peach triangles

4 teal triangles

 For the half square triangles, I use the easy angle ruler and cut to a 3 1/2". If you don't have this ruler, cut squares at 3 7/8th" and split on the 45 degree angle. 

For the economy block, position the first two triangles opposite each other, RST onto the central square. Align along the outer edges, pin and sew. Press open, then repeat for the remaining two sides as seen above. Trim the finished block to a square (this should be 6 1/2"). 

 To construct the half square triangle blocks, place two triangles RST, pin and sew along the long edge. Press open and trim to a square, removing the dog ears on the corners. Ensure all of the half square triangle blocks are the same size (this should be 3 1/2"). 

To put the cushion top together, I like to lay out all of my cut pieces to check I'm happy with the layout. I then stitch the centre block, followed by the surrounding half square triangles. I like to chain piece, so I prep all of the blocks and then stitch and press in stages. To join the blocks, I group into 4 patches around the centre, then piece together as shown above. 

I chose to hand quilt the top to highlight the diamonds created by the colours. I used aurifil 12WT and echo quilted, using a large quilting hoop to help with the tension as I stitched. Of course, you could machine quilt if your preferred. 

To finish the cushion, I created a concealed zip back (tutorial post here) and bound the edges with 2 1/4" binding (binding tutorial post here) for a neat finish to coordinate with my catty corner quilt (see here).

I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out and Millie approves too. I hope this blog helps you to create your own version. Of course, you can switch around the colour schemes for completely different looks to make use of your fabric scraps. 

Mx

Finish a long 2020 update

So Q1 of the finish a long did not go to plan, I only finished a few projects (not even my priority ones) and started a lot more.  

So I finished my birthday stitchers swap gifts, which included a patchwork tote bag, a sewing organiser and drawstring pouch (blog post about them here).A little fabric basket and drawstring bag using leftover fabric from my meadowland quilt. The biggest finish was my cotton and steel catty corner quilt and I even made a couple of cushions to match (blog post about my quilt here).

So on to Q2... this will be a different kind of 3 months. I am doing my #100daysusingcottonandsteel challenge and also hosting a sew along, so that will take a large portion of my sewing time. 
I have allowed exceptions though, since I have a few gifts to make, maybe even a couple of other sneaky projects. I am hopefully going to make a couple of my cotton and steel finish a long projects during my 100 days too. 
With all this in mind, my list for Q2 is:

A postage stamp style quilt using 4.5” squares, I have just started cutting and I’m not sure when it will get quilted but it’s going on my list.
A hst quilt, all planned and a little cutting.
A wonderland fabric quilt, again made a little start.
A half square triangle cushion, cut and ready to get sewing. 
My unicorn retreat pouch, been cut ready to sew for a couple of years.
A pin badge banner, tote bag and a scrappy pouch, hopefully another quilt too!

Non cotton and steel projects:
Millie’s cool mat cover because she will need it as the weather gets hotter.
A bag for my nanas birthday for her knitting, has to be done by may!
A pouch as a Father’s Day... this might turn to a birthday if I don’t get it made.
My #snappyzippouch for my phone, because it’s all ready to sew and even been floating on my desk for a month.
My liberty cord and cork pouch, part way through sewing and it’s a shame to leave it much longer.
A basket for my basket.
Plus anything in my box of wips that I need to finish, previously mentioned in a blog post here!

I also am hosting a sew along for my latest sewing pattern, which is a little bit different since it’s embroidery rather than a sewing pouch etc. I will be hopefully making a couple of projects during the 6 weeks.

This list is totally unrealistic, but as long as I make an effort with my 100 day project and make a good dent in my stash as well as taking part in my sew along, I will be very happy... any other finishes are just a bonus!
Mx

My #100dayproject!

For the last few years I have joined in with an Instagram based challenge called the 100 day project. You get to choose your own project or goals and for 100 days you work on them and post daily photos. I’m never very good at the daily posting but do love a nice challenge and setting myself goals. The best thing about this is you get to pick your own project to work on.

I’m sure I have mentioned before, I’m making an all cotton and steel, EPP ice cream soda quilt. It’s a fabulous pattern and a long term project, but because I wanted a nice scrappy feel and a total celebration of cotton and steel, I needed lots of prints. So I started collecting, mostly bought as fat quarters or scrap packs, but also swapped or kindly gifted fabrics too.

My stash is now pretty huge and I feel like I need to use some of it up...well a lot actually. With that in mind I have chosen my project for this year, #100daysusingcottonandsteel ! I have a plan including a lot of things I’d like to make. Hopefully I will get them all finished, however, I doubt it given the fact I’m including a couple of quilts. Not my ice-cream soda quilt, that would be just crazy! I do plan to sew some blocks though.

I got far too excited planning my project and have already spent quite some time selecting fabrics and lots of cutting preparation. Given the fact I got distracted doing this and forgot about a couple of gifts I needed to make, I am going to set aside a couple of days off during my 100 days to make those. 

So an outline of my project :

Try and use up as much of my cotton and steel stash. Make as many projects in the 100days as I can. Try to post daily, probably in my story and completed projects on my feed. Most importantly, use my stash and have fun!

Now onto the projects I want to make :

• A postage stamp/sampler style quilt. This will hopefully be a square of every cotton and steel fabric I currently own.  I’m hoping this will be a bed sized quilt so I will try to do the top and maybe the back, but will probably send it away to be long arm quilted and doubt it will be back in time to be fully complete. (I don’t know when this will be given the strange circumstances we are currently in).
• A wonderland quilt. I don’t have enough to have a bed sized quilt but I should manage a nice lap size. I will try to quilt and bind this one myself, hopefully finished in the 100days.
• A patchwork tote bag. I have made a couple of nice tote bags lately and really want one of my own.
• A scrappy triangle patchwork cushion.
• My unicorn retreat pouch and maybe a couple of other pouches.
• A pin badge banner, just because.
• I will also do some slow stitching and work on my ice cream soda quilt blossoms!
• I’m sure a few other bits will be made along the way too, maybe even another couple of quilts... let’s see how it goes...

So let’s see what I can do over the next 100 days using cotton and steel!

Mx

Birthday stitchers swap 2020... what i made!!

I decided to take part in the birthday stitchers swap on Instagram again this year. I was so pleased to be making for one of my close friends again too! I had so much to choose from the inspiration mosaic Zena made, it was full of fun ideas and I was quickly excited to get started. 

For the main make I chose to make a quilted tote bag with strawberry patchwork. I used similar construction to the previous one I had made, but changed the measurements (I'm hoping to do a tutorial blog for this soon!). I knew Zena had already received a larger grey tote, so it would be nice to make something different and a bit smaller. The smaller size also made more sense to fit the size of the patchwork strawberry

To make the bag I used red and green scraps for the strawberry patchwork and Everglades by Betsy silver for Michael Miller for the white. I added an Essex linen in ‘midnight’ to finish the bag outer nicely. For the lining, I used Strawberry tea by Axelle design for Michael Miller and added a slip pocket inside. This print felt like the perfect match for the patchwork design on the outer. I picked the Aurifil thread in shades 2745 & 2021 to use as I thought the colour matches were great

For the small makes, I started with a medium sized sewing case as Zena had included a few similar ones on her mosaic. I didn't want to purchase another sewing pattern, so I just made it up as I went along. I'm pleased with how it turned out, (although I'm sure there was a lot easier way to make it, so I wont go into that!) 



The main feature of this make for me though was the EPP. I didn't want to do just regular hexie shapes, but I don't feel quite ready for anything as fancy as clam shells. I decided a honeycomb was a nice option, it was a little different but still in my comfort zone. It also worked very well with the fussy cut images that I wanted to include. I felt it would be too much to make the entire case from patchwork, so I opted for a panel on each side instead. I joined my EPP shapes together, appliqued them onto the linen, then quilted over the top. This was the first time doing something like that and I'm so happy with how it looks. I used several prints from the Penny Rose fabrics 'bunnies & blossoms' by Lauren Nash range, some cream/ natural linen (I cant remember the shade colour) and Aurifil thread '2311'. I know Zena likes to add extra details into her makes, so I thought it was only right I did the same when making for her too. I made zip charms using some strawberry shaped beads and handmade hearts. I also used a single honeycomb shaped piece of fabric, appliqued on to the inside with stuffing in, to create a mini pin cushion!

Next was a small drawstring pouch with a pocket on the front. To make it, I used some cotton + steel fabrics. Zena said she likes neon's and I knew I had some prints that I had bought without a plan of what project to make with them. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to use them. I liked using the different prints but felt like they blended a bit to much, so I went in search for some trim and ribbon. The neon was a struggle to find and it isn't a perfect match, but it's close enough to make the pocket look pretty and fasten the pouch.

The last little make was one of my mini travel pinnies.  I used the Riley Blake 'little sweetness' range by Tasha Noel, which I know Zena loves and managed to fussy cut the little dresses for the front to really make a feature of the print. The extras that I bought for Zena was a Cath Kidston mug, a 'z' candle and some charms. The best gift wrapping for any sewist is fabric of course, tied with a big ribbon. I also made a little scrappy keyring that served as a gift tag! 

It was a pleasure making everything and I'm pleased to say Zena loves her gifts. More photos of her gifts are on my @craftylilmouse Instagram account and you can go see all the beautiful things Zena makes on her account @mycreativepottylife too!

As for my birthday stitchers swap parcel, I still have a while to wait. I am already getting excited and will share those as soon as they arrive...

These projects were on my finish-a-long list, so I can tick them as complete!!

Mx

catty corner quilt

I recently got the chance to pattern test the catty corner quilt and I jumped at the chance. I have given my feedback and my quilt is all finished, so thought I’d share more about it here.

Although it was a small timescale, I chose to do the throw size and thought it would be manageable. I really wanted to make a scrappy cotton and steel quilt and this looked like a great opportunity to make it. The material requirements were slightly different to what I expected, but thankfully only needed to buy a couple of cuts to finish it all.

The first step was a fabric pull, I get my sister to help with this part. I think she enjoys it more than me, although she can get bossy at times. We sectioned my fabric in to colours, then ordered the cuts by size. I picked 5 fabrics from the bluebird range for the centres, even though no one would probably notice, I really liked the idea. We looked at the pattern and laid out some fabric to get a feel for how it would look, took pictures then re-arranged until it looked perfect.

 

 

 We originally had both black and navy but felt it was too dark, switched out the teal with cream but it was still just not quite right. We revisited the centres but I didn’t like them as much. I then wondered what it would be like without the black so we could have both the cream and teal... it was a winner.

I always take a photo when I choose fabrics. I have such a poor memory and would easily forget what was meant to go where without one. I did change a couple of fabrics around during the cutting and making process, but overall I mostly stuck with what I planned.
 

 

 

The main part of the pattern is only made of 4 large blocks, which are fairly easy to sew. The clever part of this pattern is in the placement and the extra cutting. Of course I wont go into details... you need to buy the pattern for that!! It is quite a large throw and required a bit of very large cutting, so I thought I’d share a funny progress shot of the measures to keep it in place for trimming...

 

I thought about quilting this throw myself but decided to treat myself to it been long arm quilted instead. I knew I would struggle to get it finished in time to a high standard, plus sending it away also meant I could do some other sewing at the same time my quilt still got quilted. I decided since it was going away, it might as well have a fancy back too. I decided to make an extra block and couple of halves to piece a section of the back. For the remaining section, I chose a cream and pink sprinkle. I had bought a big piece so this was the perfect opportunity to use it.

 When you send a quilt to be long arm quilted, the backing and the batting/wadding need to be 4 inches bigger than the top on all 4 sides. I didn’t quite have enough fabric (plus I didn’t want to loose too much patchwork, so I added extra borders using some cheap fabric my mum had bought years ago. Believe it or not, it was only 30p a metre from a market! The backing did look a bit funny when I sent it off, but this was only temporary. Given it's size, it was rather hard to photograph and this was the best I could capture...

 

 
For the quilting I chose a geometric pattern, diagonal plaid, which used squares. I liked the way it reflected the quilt blocks and thought it would look more modern than a swirly design. I’m so pleased with how it looks now the quilt is finished. I got Cath (Cumbria long arm quilting) to trim and attach the binding for me too... did you know they can do that ?! I didn't get it done last year with my meadowland and regretted it as I struggled with the trimming and attaching on a domestic machine with the size and weight of the quilt. Since I didn’t have the time to dither about this one, having it done saved me the trouble. It was lovely to have it come back all ready for me to just hand stitch the reverse of the binding to finish.

I am quite slow at hand stitching and I found the black cotton and binding harder than on previous quilts. Saying that, I probably finished in record time with the deadline spurring me on !! I was so happy with how it looked once finished and was excited to get photos. However, British winter is notoriously quite dark and windy, but luckily we had a window of nice light and took advantage. Mum was on hand to go up the ladder to hold the quilt whilst I took as many photos as possible. It was still quite windy but I think we got a nice photo.

As for the back, Cath did a super job of lining it up with plenty of patchwork on show at the bottom. The wind picked up and the picture isn’t quite as good but it’s the best we could do.

 If you want to see the individual blocks and some more photos of the quilt details, you can see them over on my instagram @craftylilmouse . I love how this quilt looks, it is so bright and modern. It's also lovely that it includes so many lovely cotton and steel prints and to get to use up quite a lot of my stash was a bonus! I think this is a great quilt pattern... if you'd like to make your own, the quilt pattern will be on sale soon. I'd also recommend a visit to stitch and yarn's etsy store for more of her patterns too.

 

Mx